Date:10/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/10/stories/2008031054900900.htm

National

Centre plans to make Rs. 50-crore budget film on India’s independence

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: The Centre is planning to make a Rs. 50-crore budget film on India’s Independence struggle, according to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi.

An official source said the film would be named ‘Tantia’ and its main objective would be to inform and educate the masses, especially the youth, about the glorious struggle for Independence and to remember with respect, the supreme sacrifice of the freedom-fighters who laid down their lives in the hope of a better tomorrow.

The Centre would foot 50 per cent of the cost of the film, the Minister said at an event organised at the Howrah station to receive the Azadi Express, a special train which commemorates 150 years of India’s First War of Independence through an exhibition-on-wheels.

In view of public demand, the government is planning to extend the route of the train beyond the 71 stations scheduled originally so that more people could view this unique exhibition, the source said.

The train started its journey from Porbander, the birthplace of the Father of the Nation, and is expected to reach Delhi on May 11, coinciding with the Meerut-Delhi march. Around 50-lakh people have viewed the exhibition.